As the Rugby World Cup looms, the Springboks this week remain 4th on World Rugby’s official rankings.
Heyneke Meyer’s charges currently boast 85.15 ratings points, trailing Ireland Australia and New Zealand.
Ireland’s 16 / 10 home loss to Wales at the weekend saw them slip to 3rd, with Australia moving into 2nd spot.
Ireland’s defeat cost them 1.7 ratings points, leaving them on 85.19 points, 1.48 adrift of the Wallabies.
The All Blacks (92.89) remain comfortably atop the rankings – a position they have occupied since November 2009.
Wales, meanwhile, moved above their Rugby World Cup 2015 Pool A opponents England and into 5th place in the rankings following a performance that was several notches higher than the one they’d produced when losing 35 / 21 to Ireland in Cardiff 3 weeks previously.
Wales’ 1st victory in Dublin for 3 years saw their rating total improve by 1.69 points to 84.63 – less than 4 tenths more than England.
World Rugby rankings (Top 15):
- New Zealand 92.89
- Australia 86.67
- Ireland 85.19
- South Africa 85.15
- Wales 84.63
- England 84.24
- France 80.90
- Argentina 78.39
- Fiji 77.04
- Scotland 76.10
- Tonga 75.25
- Samoa 75.14
- Georgia 72.16
- Japan 71.15
- Italy 70.53
Wales now above England in the rugby and football rankings
Bullscot wrote:
Amazing to think they were 117th in football only 4 years ago…..
Can we blame it on Gareth Bale or what? 🙂
robzim wrote:
No. Coleman.
World Rugby should, IMO, only give and take ranking points in sanctioned tournaments.
To judge teams now when coaches are experimenting before the WC is not a true test, these games are deemed “friendlies” or “warm up games”
Rankings should only be adjudged through and after the RC, 6 Nations, June tests and EoYT ( although the latter two we also sometimes see below strength sides)
But the current games upon which rankings are being judged shouldn’t count as tests
@ robzim:
@ Scrumdown:
It has been a remarkable turn around, not followed closely but must be combination of various things especially Gareth Bale Aaron Ramsey and of course coach Coleman.
@ nortie:
Ja understand your thinking but they are internationals and if the coaches put experimenting to gain for a big tournament ahead of winning then so be it if they lose. Some pretty strong teams been selected by many teams for this weekend’s games. Also if the games don’t have test status does that mean a player can be tried out by one country in these games and then still be able to play for another country?
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